See and believe

Main navigation

Lots To See and Do

Hike a gentle path through secluded woods or a rocky outcrop on the North Atlantic. Hiking, swimming, boating or a lazy day at a secluded beach, it can all be on your doorstep when you are in the District of Guysborough.

The shallow waters and white sand of Black Duck Cove combine for some of the best swimming you’ll find in the province. Tor Bay Beach is one of Nova Scotia’s finest, and least crowded. There are hidden coves and pristine lakes around almost every corner. A boating and fishing paradise.

The Guysborough Trail — the first section of the Trans-Canada Trail to open in Nova Scotia — offers a spectacular view from the McAlister Bridge. The Chapel Gully Trail system near Canso winds its way through a varied forest and along a saltwater estuary. Near the picturesque community of Little Dover, the Black Duck Cove Park features a 3.5km/2.17mi hike along a sandy beach boardwalk, coastal spruce forests, salt marshes and the granite shoreline.

Fishing enthusiasts and hunters know that the District is the one place in the province where their sport isn’t about luck. The streams and lakes here still teem with trout and bass and the forests with big game and small.

One of Canada’s most renowned touring theatre companies, Mulgrave Road Theatre, has its home in Guysborough and for more than 30 years, has created and presented plays focused on the culture and the experiences of Nova Scotia. The Chedabucto Performance Theatre is a 300-seat theatre in Guysborough.

And history . . .

Think the arrival of Columbus marked the start of European efforts to explore and settle North America? Not so fast. Prince Henry Sinclair of Orkney landed on the shores of Nova Scotia, near what is now Guysborough Harbour, in 1398 almost 100 years before Columbus. Overlooking breathtaking vistas, a monument at the Boylston Provincial Park commemorates his historic voyage.

You can discover the fascinating story of the earliest European fishing ports in the “New World” at Canso Islands and Grassy Island Fort National Historic Sites. By the early 1600s, attempts were underway to establish permanent settlements driven by the abundance of fish in our waters.

Visit the sites and heritage of some of the earliest North American settlements by free people of African descent, who settled in and around present-day Lincolnville as early as 1784. Around Larry’s River and Tor Bay the District’s Acadian heritage lives on in communities established in the 1770s. Traditionally farmers, the Acadians found this new land so rocky that they began harvesting the seas for lobster, cod and mackerel.